Round Five was sailed on Sunday 27^th July – a very hot day but with generally very light winds. Thoughts turned back to the frustrations of Round 3 but this time we had the Fifteen Minute Rule in place and every skipper knew the ruling should it be required. The attendance of the skippers was much lower than normal probably due to holiday commitments, etc. Of the 12 skippers, we had three in Class A, eight in Class B and one in Class C.

After the customary briefings of the skippers we got the first race under way. Because of the very light winds the course was changed from our traditional “M” to a triangular one – if we had not all three races would have been null and void.

The first race passed without incident mainly because the breeze freshened. Paul Cooper took the line honours in Class A with Dave Tucker second and Colin Bird third. Class B was won by Dave Chalk followed by Anthony Sisley with Chris Harding in third place.

The second race was very different story because the wind dropped completely from the start. With the time ticking away it looked as though the race would be null and void because with about one minute of the fifteen left there were four yachts in the finishing straight all completely becalmed. All of a sudden a very light breeze came up and Les May’s yacht shot out of the pack and crossed the start /finish line with about 15 seconds left of the fifteen minutes – the race was on. The breeze died away again and the 30 Minute Rule kicked in and the race positions were compiled. In Class A Dave Tucker was declared the winner with Paul Cooper and Colin Bird in second and third place respectively. Chris Harding took the Class B with Dave Chalk second and Anthony Sisley third.

And so to Race 3 and worse was to come. The leading yachts negated the “null and void” situation and the race was on and then the wind dropped completely and the fastest yachts only completed three laps before the 30 Minute Rule kicked in. Paul Cooper led the Class A boats with Dave Tucker and Colin Bird second and third places respectively. Chris Harding again took Class B with Harry Hunt in second place and Peter Daniels in third.

Derek Filmer won all three in Class C.

The leading positions after five rounds are as follows:

Let’s hope for more wind for Round Six which is being contested on the 31^st of August starting at 12.30 pm.

Sorry No Photographs